England returned with more questions than answers after the first ODI against the West Indies, having suffered a huge loss on Thursday night and Sir Alastair Cook brandished it a hammering. The batters failed to get going and none of them scored above run-a-ball while the bowlers seemed completely ineffective against the brute power of Evin Lewis. The absence of regular skipper Jos Buttler seems to paint a very big picture for the English side who seem to be lacking a leader on the field. With only five more ODIs currently lined up for the visitors before the Champions Trophy in 2025 (two vs West Indies; three vs India), they would like to have some of those questions solved here and now.
For the hosts West Indies, they put in a collective performance in the first game. They bounced back from the 2-1 series defeat to Sri Lanka last month with a positive start. Shai Hope captained the side astutely in the first game. He rotated his bowlers well, who all chipped in with wickets at regular intervals to derail England while the batters polished off the task without much hassle.
West Indies would look to continue fitting the pieces together right now to label their omission from the World Cup in 2023 a mere anomaly.
When: Saturday, November 2, 09:30 local time, 19:00 IST
Where: Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua
What to expect: There is a 50% chance of rain with scattered thunderstorms expected around start time. Historically, the ground has not been that high-scoring as was witnessed in the first ODI as well and that trend is expected to continue.
Team news:
England
Jamie Overton who couldn’t bowl and registered a first-ball duck in the first game could be expected to make way for Michael-Kyle Pepper to strengthen the batting. Reece Topley too could come back into the mix for John Turner.
Probable XI: Philip Salt(wk), Michael-Kyle Pepper, Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone(c), Dan Mousley, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
West Indies
West Indies had an almost perfect performance in the first game and they would be expected to stick to the same XI as the first ODI.
Probable XI:Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Shai Hope(wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Keacy Carty, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Matthew Forde, Jayden Seales.
New England, it’s just like the old England.
Almost exactly a year ago, a fresh-faced England ODI side arrived in Antigua tasked with the mission of driving forward a new era of English white-ball cricket. That new era lost their first match to the West Indies by four wickets. Cut to 12 months later and this one lost by eight wickets.
It would be an unfair assessment, though, to say England are going backwards. This is an incredibly exciting group of young players, all of whom individually are talented enough to either be considered England players now or England players of the future. But in Thursday’s showing, they were less than the sum of their parts.
Fewer than half of them are first choice. Of the XI that took to the field against Australia for the fifth and final ODI in Bristol in September, just five from that squad are in the squad for this tour. England gave out four debuts, as all of Jordan Cox, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton and John Turner made their bows.
In truth, this is closer to an England Lions white-ball tour and it is hard to hold a group that includes the likes of Cox, in just his fifth List A match, walking out at No.3 for England on debut, to one which has Joe Root, who’s played over 450 international innings, batting there.
Nevertheless, in a change from the hyper-positive messaging you associate with England when on the receiving end of a chastening day of Test cricket, stand-in head coach Marcus Trescothick and stand-in captain Liam Livingstone were visibly rankled by this defeat.
Before speaking to the media, they held a debrief together on the sidelines talking through the events that had contributed to their crushing eight-wicket defeat.
“[We have to] try to get into the rhythms of 50-over cricket as quickly as we can. We had four debuts and they’ll have all learnt a hell of a lot from what they experienced and hopefully they’ll come on from that.”
Liam Livingstone
Individuals, including themselves, are on show here and eager to prove a point. So while the matches may soon disappear into the ether of white-ball games you forgot ever took place, that’s not the case for those involved, who are, in effect, taking part in an audition for the future.
“We’ve got to get up to speed as quickly as possible,” Livingstone said. “We pride ourselves on putting in performances for England, it’s always special when you wear the Three Lions on your chest and we’re pretty disappointed with how we played.”
It’s easy to point to the absence of List A cricket in the calendar as the reason for England’s inability to find the correct tempo for a wicket where 250 would’ve been competitive. But between Will Jacks, Phil Salt, Livingstone and Sam Curran, you have four players with ODI experience. Whereas, perversely, the absolute inexperience of Jacob Bethell and Mousley means they’re not completely new to the format. Bethell played in the One-Day Cup last year and has more List A matches than first-class games to his name. Mousley, on the other hand, has only made ten one-day appearances, but has a century and two fifties in that time.
But while there isn’t a complete lack of experience in List A cricket, there was in the actual roles each player was being asked to perform. Of the top six, only Salt and Jacks had batted in those positions for England more than once in their careers. Everyone, collectively, was taking their stabilisers off for the first time.
“[We have to] try to get into the rhythms of 50-over cricket as quickly as we can,” Livingstone said. “We had four debuts and they’ll have all learnt a hell of a lot from what they experienced and hopefully they’ll come on from that.”
A pertinent question is whether England’s absolute commitment to youth could in fact be detrimental to the players they’re trying to blood in the first place.
Liam Livingstone top-scored for England in the first ODI•Getty Images
The benefits of a blend of youth and experience is a trope so old it borders on cliche, but cliches exist for a reason. Rather than attempt to give all of Cox, Bethell and Mousley their chance in one go, could it not be better for two, or even just one of those players to be gaining their opportunity, with the addition of an experienced professional in the line-up for them to bat around. Your James Vinces, your Dawid Malans. Or even Jonny Bairstow. He is still an England contracted player for at least another year. The prodigal talents could stand on the shoulders of journeymen.
Of course, a recall for the elder statesmen of off-Broadway white-ball tours can be argued to be a step backwards. And there’s no guarantee they’d be interested either. You can only call someone last minute as a second choice so often.
But you’re also not meant to chuck your children into the deep end without armbands. England have now lost 12 of their last 18 ODIs. Cox spoke ahead of the tour that one of the main benefits of being in an international environment is rubbing shoulders with the best. And does picking such a young squad allow for that?
“I don’t think we read conditions quite as well as we could have,” Livingstone said. “When me and Sam were in, we were on for 240-250. But unfortunately I got out at the wrong time, it fell away from that. We pride ourselves on one of our top six getting a score and unfortunately we didn’t get that.”
The top six he’s referring to has four List A hundreds between them in 271 matches.
There’s no disputing the talent in the group. This is an exciting team and regardless of whether they turn the series around and win, or crash and burn to a three-nil defeat, they will be fun to watch along the way.
But part of the reason they’re exciting is because they’re new and we haven’t seen them before. And arguably, while they might be less fun if they slotted in some reruns of Frasier in the middle order, they may also be better off for it.
